Eucalyptus & Greenery Filled Boho Barn Wedding

What a pleasure it is to be sharing Craig and Elisabeth’s stunning greenery filled boho wedding today. They were married at The Barn At Upcote in the beautiful Cotswolds on the 2^nd September 2017. Relaxed, informal and untraditional was order of the day and a mini festival atmosphere emerged thanks to the outdoors reception drinks, fine weather and plenty of entertainment.

Their day was totally stylish, in part thanks to the outfit choices. Elisabeth wore a divine lace strapless gown called Betty by Wtoo, Craig donned a pale blue jacket, chinos and bow tie, while the bridesmaids wore mismatched white frocks and the groomsmen braces and bow ties. Too cool!

The decorations were kept simple, with copper pipe signage, eucalyptus used everywhere and a modern grey and gold cake creation. Oh my.

Thanks ever so much to Kerry Diamond Photography for sharing these absolutely incredible images with us.

The Proposal

Craig and I met in a very untraditional way! We knew each other through a mutual friend but were both online dating at the time. Craig asked me out on a date via an online message and I held back (my main reason being because I knew he would pick me up in his van!) My mum convinced me to go on the date and I guess I never looked back! Even though he did pick me up in his van! We got together in November 2011 and have been together 7 years this year. We bought a house that needed a full refurbishment in the first 12 months of being together. Craig is or was quite allergic to animals at the time he met me and I owned two cats. We now own two cats and a French Bulldog Louis which he gifted to me on Christmas day 2017.

Again our proposal was a little untraditional. Craig wanted to propose in the grounds of Tatton Park on a family day out. However my Nephew’s hunger issues got the better of him and he got a little phased with the whole thing. He finally proposed that very night at home in our kitchen as we were about to head out for dinner. I was only wearing one shoe at the time and still laugh about this now! I often joke it wasn’t the most romantic proposal but in its own way it was. I will never forget for such a confident guy how nervous he was. He definitely showed me his soft side that day!

The Vision

When starting out with the wedding planning we knew we wanted a relaxed wedding, informal and untraditional. We both knew we didn’t want a church wedding but we like the idea of a mini festival and if we could have lots of the reception drinks outside with plenty of entertainment. The main focus for us was to entertain our guests. Coming from Manchester it meant all of our guests had a bit of a drive with the wedding being in the Cotswolds so we wanted to make sure everyone had an amazing day with no expense spared on entertainment and fizz of course! I wanted a boho style wedding lots of white and green flowers with no colour theme. I never really like the idea of everything matching and that was reflected in the bridesmaid dresses.

The Outfits

For the outfits I knew I didn’t want a traditional big fluffy white dress. I also really hated the material of most dresses – it just wasn’t me. I finally sourced a designer I loved and then found a local stockist who didn’t stock the dress but they got a sample in for me and after one try on I knew it was for me. My dress was the Watters Wtoo Betty dress. It felt more like a gown to a ball rather than a wedding dress. You could get away with wearing it again. I had six bridesmaids and I knew I wanted them all in white. The girls were given free reign on their choice of dress as long as it was white and long. I wanted the girls to be comfortable, feel gorgeous and wear a dress they could wear again. They all chose individual dresses picked from the high street. The boys outfits were top to toe in Zara. We didn’t want formal suits and so instead we opted for beige chinos, a casual white shirt with a bow tie and braces. Craig had a light blue jacket to make him stand out from the rest of the boys. I got the bow ties from a boutique online.

The Food

We opted for Orchard Catering after viewing the barn and these came as a named supplier. I honestly can’t thank Orchard Catering for their flexibility on menu choices and excellent value. I knew I wanted an informal menu and in the end we basically picked a 3 course menu of our favourite food. Orchard didn’t even hesitate when we went off the menu supplied. Everyone commented on the food on the day. Some of our guests even asked for seconds and got them thanks to the flexibility of Orchard.

The Flowers

For my flowers I didn’t want to spend endless amounts of money on flowers that to me just get wasted after the wedding. I opted for 6 foliage bouquets for my bridesmaids all made from eucalyptus. I had a huge foliage bouquet with some tropical flowers. Beth at Go Wild Flowers double and triple checked I meant huge and I did. I was amazed on the day just how beautiful it was. I’ve dried it out as I wanted it to last forever. We had eucalyptus runners on the long trestle tables in the barn. Beth at Go Wild really excelled everything I asked for. She was amazing and truly bonkers when I met her. A real genuine lovely person.

Your Photographer & Filmmaker

I knew if I ever got married I would use a photographer local to me as she had photographed a couple of my friends weddings and I had loved her casual relaxed vibe. Kerry Diamond from Glossop photographed the day and she was a pleasure to have around. You spend a lot of time with your photographer on your wedding day but she made it very comfortable and enjoying for us both – we all had such a laugh.

The videographer came from the Lake district and was also amazing. The four of us snuck out prior to the wedding breakfast and then just before the sun went down. Some of my funniest memories from the day were with these two ladies. Especially when Craig was chasing chickens! When the photographs and video came back we were speechless with both.

Memorable Moments

My favourite moment from the day was probably Craig’s speech. I was so nervous and I know he was as well especially when he decided to bin the script and just make everyone laugh. I loved how relaxed the day was. We had a guitarist Alex Early play during our reception drinks and he was Amazing. We had two first dances, one to a funky house Saxaphone version of Klingande Jubel because its one of my favourite summer songs. All my bridesmaids jumped in and I guess this was one of my favourite moments. Craig then picked a really soppy First dance song which Ioved. The book of love by Gavin James. When he first played it to me as an option I got really embarrassed because it was so soppy but when I hear it now it definitely reminds me of our magical day!

Advice For Other Couples

I don’t think there is much I would have done differently. I really struggle at making decisions and when it comes to weddings there are so many options its sometimes quite overwhelming to decide what you want. I’d maybe make a suggestion to make a board of what you like and stick to it otherwise you can go off on a tangent.

Credit Where Credit Is Due

Goodness me, so gorgeous!

Craig and Elisabeth I cannot thank you both enough for sharing your wonderful wedding story xo Lou